I'm Only Human
by Tridecalogism-Queen
Summary: Rated T for serious content might go up in later chappies. Takes off after HBP. HPDM. Harry goes searching for the last Horcruxes and is accompanied by an 'unexpected' person. Full sum inside.
1. Prologue

This is just a wee little idea I've been rolling around on for awhile, it'll probably be slow going at first, I dont even know how its going to end... it might not even end. I might not finish, I might get bored with it...it's all up in the air at this point.

**Summary**: Takes off from Half Blood Prince, while Harry is searching for the Horcruxes and such. He stops in a coffee shop a long the way and meets one unlikely person who wants to help him. I'm feeling some slash in later chappies.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own any of it but the plot, and frankly, if I did, I wouldn't be pouring it on to Fanfiction would I? I would be pouring it onto my editor.

**Note**: By the way, I'm looking for a beta, so if anyone's interested...

--

The room was dark, and damp, the only light that reached the windowless room was from the crack underneath the padlocked door. In one corner there was a man, sitting on the ground, his tattered clothes wrapped around him. If anyone had gotten close enough to see his face they would see a drawn tired, and restless face, lips moving nonstop, mumbling unheard words.The man had been here about a year and a half, but like most new inmates, he was nearly insane within the first few months.

Suddenly, the door that had been kept locked for so long was swung open, and a hooded shape entered. The man looked up, and it was seen his hair was dirty blonde, but if it had been washed it would have shown as nearly white.

He opened his mouth and spoke, "N-Narcissa? I-is that you? H-Have they let me out?"

The shape removed its cloke, revealing a woman with blonde hair and a pretty face, if it hadn't been scrunched up in everlasting disgust,"Yes, Lucius, it's me. But you are still locked up. This will be a short trip. I have come regarding our son, Draco,"

The eyes of the man called Lucius widened, "So has he? D-did he complete his task?" His eyes watered with hope.

Narcissa's eyes thinned, "No. Serverus had to do it for him. And now he has disappeared. Good thing too, but The Dark Lord will track him anyways."

Lucius frowned, "B-but then why have you come h-h-here?"

Her eyes glittered in the dark, "I need to kill you,"

Five minuted later a dark shape exited prison room 435A, and thirty minuted after that Prisoner 1984M was found dead and removed from his room and buried at 12 am. It was said he died of "natural causes".

--

Reviews wanted! This is just the prologue, so its pretty short, i know...


	2. Godric's Hollow

Summary for Chapter 2: Harry goes to Godrics Hollow and sees an unexpected face, which he tried to blow to smithereens...

Thanks for reading it, all, even if you didn't review (which i would GREATLY appreciate)

Still waiting on the beta...

Note: I'm putting responses to reviews on my profile, i dont like making my readers scroll down half a page just to read my story.

--

Harry walked along the worn path half mindedly, listening to the crunching of the autumn leaves beneath his feet and smelling the rotting wood and leaves. The woods around him reamined silent at his intrusion, except for the occasional squirrel collecting nuts for the winter soon to come.

After it was claimed in the Prophet that Hogwarts would not reopen for this year, Harry had left his home at the Dursleys on the eve of his 17th birthday and headed for Godric's Hollow, which he had found that not many people knew the whearabouts of. Until last night, when he had recieved a letter from none other than Dumbledore. Fighting tears, he broke the seal and read

Dear Harry,  
If you are reading this now then I am dead and Hogwarts has been closed. I know that you will try to find the last Horcruxes andI truly wish you the best. However you probably have no idea where to start. I would suggest from the beginning. Godrics Hollow. The housewas mostly destroyed when Voldemort died, but it has been left alone from Muggles, seeing as it was unplottable. I have visited there many times,but mostly in vain. I would tell you to apparate but i would not reccomend it these days, especially if you have not passed the test...

The letter went on to give directions to Godrics Hollow and other places he might search and people he might ask and get memories from.

Harry continued walking along the path, thinking now about an article in the Prophet last week that had caught his eye.

'Lucius Malfoy Dead'

Last night at approximatly 11:46 Lucius Malfoy's body was found dead in his cell. It appears he has died of a high fever. The Ministry says that which it is disapointing they could not get more information from Malfoy, they are extremely glad that He did not escape back to his master, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.They are also wondering if this is in anyway linked to the disappearance of his son, Draco Malfoy, who last year attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wiazardry while Albus Dumbledore was still alive...

Not that Harry usually agreed with the Prophet, he was thiking they were on to something of some sort. Not one hair of Draco Malfoy had been seen since that night, and now, his father dies of a "fever"? Was this another ploy of Voldemort's? or was Luciius Malfoy actually dead? Both were hard to believe, seeing as Voldemort was extremely angry at Lucius and dying of "fever" was very uncommon at Azkaban.

While Harry was pondering this, he drew within sight of Godric's Hollow. The sight made him stop mid-step, his heart suddenly felt cold and hard and a lump formed in his throat.

It was evident that that house had once been magnificent, once been a jaw opener. Now, however, the immediet feeling was one of depression and hopelessness. The house was now the skeletal remains of something glorious, something warm, something that Harry used to call home before he ould even speak.

Suddenly Harry's hatred for Voldemort rose so great, that if he had appeared suddenly before Harry, he wouldn't have had the time to shout the Killing Curse. He'd be dead by then. Harry's anger doubled, bubbling in his stomach, making his head feel hot and his throat began to ache.

He began to cry, the tears pouring out of his eyes like water pouring through a broken dam. He didn't know how long he stood there crying, but when he was done, the sun was mostly set.

Harry looked up at his home and knew in his gut that even if he made it to the front door without breaking down again, there would be nothing there to help his case.

Wiping his face and feeling very put out, Harry turned around and started to walk back down the path, his only thought was to get back to the small town only a mile away, and get as far away from Godrics Hollow as possible.

Until a shocked voice behind him said, "Potter?"

--

Yeah yeah, short, again. I'm very bad at writing long chappies. It's my curse, along with bad grammar and changing from third person to first, which i did a lot in this chapter until i reread it and changed it back to third.

Thank for reading all this, now be nice and review.


	3. Strange Alliances?

Well i still dont have a beta, but i think i do an OK job of editing and such. However, if anyone wants to lend a hand or whatnot, i will be greatly pleased and will write and update quicker.

Summary for Chapter 3: Harry meets up with 'someone' who shares his task, and they decide to search together.

--

Harry whirled around, his anger rising again, all of this was Malfoy's fault, he wasn't sure how but it was. Even though Malfoy had been about to turn over to Dumbledore's side, if he hadn't delayed so long, then maybe Dumbledore would still be...

Harry sent a string of curses at Malfoy, who deflected them without trouble and just as easily disarmed Harry and pointed his wand at his throat.

"Lower your arm Malfoy, before I break it," Harry growled, his anger burning bright.

Malfoy smirked, his eyes glittering with satisfaction of having Harry at his wand tip, "Nice to see you too, Potty,"

"I'm warning you, lower your wand!"

Malfoy raised a brow, "I'm sorry Potter, but you just attacked me. I think I have the right to keep my wand pointed at you."

"This is my last warning-"

Malfoy rolled his eyes, "Oh come off it, Potter. Stop your petty threats. I'm not going to hurt you. I just don't want you hurting ME, so get used to my wand, because you two are going to get friendly over the next five minutes."

"You're an idiot, Malfoy," Harry grumbled and relented.

"Yes, probably, but I'm not the one with a wand pointed at my throat, am I Harry?"

Harry looked up, eyes wide, "Did you just call me-"

"No, drop it," Malfoys eyes thinned.

"I don't think I will, Malfoy. You just called me Harry, admit it,"

"I think you took one too many happy pills this morning, Harry," Malfoy paused, "Damn. Fine, I called you Harry but it doesn't mean anything, only that I've grown up, and you should too. I'm not the same prerson you hated in Hogwarts."

"Aren't you?"

Malfoy looked at Harry, the hurt clearly showing in his eyes, masked unsuccessfully by anger, "No, I'm not,"

An uncomfortable silence followed, with both looking at their feet, at a loss for words. Suddenly Harry asked, "What did you mean, about me taking too many happy pills? Why would I need those?"

Malfoy shrugged, "I don't know. I thought you would need them.I would, if I was like you," Harry shot him a look, "I mean, from what I know of you, you enjoy feeling guilty way too much and probably blame yourself for Dubledore's death, and for Black's death, and all that."

"What do you mean 'from what I know of you'?" Harry said accusingly.

"Well, no offense, but you're pretty transparent when it comes to your feelings,"

Harry had never thought of himself as 'transparent' but he thought about how Ron and Hermione had always known when something was upsetting him or bothering him, or when he was lying.

"So what are you doing here, Malfoy?" Yes, What WAS Malfoy doing at Godric's Hollow, where Harry's parent had been murdered?

Malfoy shrugged and said, "Same as you, I suppose. Trying to kill Voldemort." By now his arm was lowerd, dangling at his side. Harry could easily attack him, but for some reason, he didn't want to.

Harry asked shocked, "YOU want to kill Voldemort? But I thought-"

"Yes yes, that I'm a death eater, right? That I have the dark mark and Voldemort is my hero?" Malfoy shot him an irritated look, "As a matter of fact, Harry, NO Voldemort is anything but my hero, and I'm NOT a death eater."

"And-"

Malfoy pulled up his sleeve to his shoulder, "But yes, I do have the dark mark okay? Not one of my best traits, but I live with it."

Harry realized something. Malfoy actually wasn't that stupid, in fact, he had always been good at school and stuff, and probably knew loads more about this type of thing that Harry did. Harry got an idea. It was insane, but it would probably make the search go loads faster...

He rubbed his neck, "So YOU'RE out to find the Horcruxes, and I'M out to find the Horcruxes, so..."

Malfoy cocked a brow, "Are you suggesting what I THINK you're suggesting, Potter?"

Harry frowned at Malfoy, "We don't have to become best mates or anything. But if we work together we might-"

Malfoy waved his hand, "Yes, Yes, work faster and get more done, and all that Gryffindor shit. Okay, Harry. I'll work with you. But like you said, no becoming friends or any of that crap, because I don't think I could deal with being you're friend or anything. Personally, even the thought of that makes me shudder.

Harry rolled his eyes, "Yeah, yeah, Draco, the feeling's mutual." He shivered, suddenly realizing the sun was down and it was quite chilly, "Let's just get on our way back and into a coffee shop so we can talk about all this, okay?" He turned and began to walk back down the path, picking up his wand on the way.

Draco ran to catch up with him, "Did you just-"

Harry cut him off, "Yes."

"Why?" Malfoy asked, confused.

"If you're going to call me by my first name, then it's only polite to return the favor,"

Even though he wasn't looking at Draco, Harry knew he was once again raising a brow, "'Favor?'"

"Figure of speech."

"I think not. I think you're actually starting to tolerate me..."

"You called me Harry first, you went soft on me long ago, Draco,"

"There it is again!"

They continued bickering down the path, both feeling slightly afraid that the other was right; they WERE starting to tolerate each other...and after tolerating each other...were they going to...? Both pushed the alien thoughts away and kept on arguing, both determined to win, even though they couldn't figure out why they were fighting in the first place.

--

There it is, it's not as long as I'd hoped, only by 200 words longer or some which really isn't that much longer.

Reviews wanted!


	4. Understanding

See? i CAN update! sorry this took so long. I had school and the play and Volleyball, but now im all organized and i found time to write this. It's still a bit short, and i'm afraid they all will be, but I'm still going to try to update at LEAST once a week. Also, sorry for any spelling mistakes, my spellcheck is wacked up...

Reviews appreciated and cherished (flamers will be used to my own amusement.)

--

Harry sipped his cup of coffee, looking over at Draco, who was drumming his fingers against the table, and staring blankly at the wall; the ultimate picture of boredom. The two had been sitting like this for over an hour, not a word passed between them.

Draco rolled his eyes and finally said, "Honestly, Potter. If you have nothing to say to me, then why did you drag me into this bloody coffee shop?"

"First off I didn't DRAG you here, and secondly, well, I have no idea where to begin,"

Draco cocked an eyebrow, "The _beginning_ will do, Harry, That is what us people of intelligence usually do," Draco said the 'people of intelligence' slowly, so as for Harry to be able to understand what he was saying,

Harry glared at him, "Why should I trust you? I mean, you DID plan Dumbledore's death." he pointed out, adding another spoonful of sugar to his coffee.

"Not what I had in mind, but fine. Put yourself in my shoes Harry. Your father's in prison, your mother's a death eater, and Voldemort will kill your family and you if you don't do what he asks. What would you have done?"

"I would have died first!" Harry said angrily.

"REALLY? Would you really? If all your life you wanted to rise to your fathers standards, and now you can help him? Would you really give you and your family up to Voldemort that way? I think not. At the time, I was more than a little excited about helping Voldemort. It was what I had been waiting for all my life. Then I got the dark mark and went to school. And I had a perfect idea to get the death eaters there. Something even Dumbledore didn't know about. Voldemort would have been so proud, he would have forgiven Lucius and spared my mother. I didn't care about the necklace and the poisoned mead, Dumbledore was right, they were feeble attempts. But then that night happened and what I hated the most was how Dumbledore was right. I didn't really want to kill him. I had never killed before, and it was scaring me that I couldn't kill Dumbledore, even when he was weak beyond my wildest dreams. I couldn't believe my luck. I mean, the man was as if he had no energy at all-"

"I was there, all right! I know what happened!" Somehow hearing about this episode on the tower made Harry want to throw up.

"You were?" Draco was obviously suprised, then his face relaxed into realization, "You were the one on the second broom! Well, anyway, you saw what happened. I couldn't kill him, I was actually going to JOIN him. But then Snape came and because he took that blasted unbreakable vow with my mother, he killed Dumbledore. And I had no choice but to flee because I had failed and Dumbledore had exposed my weakness through my thick layer of denial. I really wasn't bad enough to be a death eater. And I hated myself for it. The few months after that I was moping around Europe, hiding and moving constantly to avoid being caught. Until Dumbledore's letter found me, and gave me a purpose."

Harry was speechless. Draco sneered, "and THAT, Potter, is why you can trust me. Because I am no longer in my father's shadow, seeing as he is dead and my mother has openly disowned me from the Malfoy fortune because I was in league with "You-Know-Who, and because I have nothing better to do with my time as a runaway."

Harry quickly downed the rest of his coffee, and wiped his mouth with his sleeve, ignoring Draco's look of disgust at his enemy's barbaric mannerisms. "So...what do you propose we do?" Harry asked, trying to make sense of everything Draco had just said.

"Well, we have to go back to Godric's Hollow, obviously."

Harry said coldly, "There's nothing there,"

Draco, AGAIN, cocked a brow. Harry was sure it was his favorite thing to do, since he could do it so perfectly, a silver line, arched high up on his forehead, the ideal image of skepticism, "You're sure?"

"Yes, I...I felt it. I don't know. I just could tell,"

Draco let out an undignified "Humph" and plopped back against his chair. "You would think, with it's name, it would have held some magical item Godric Gryffindor used to own."

Harry nodded, "That's what I thought too, but I saw the house, and well, even if Voldemort had gone there for the artifact or whatever, he would have taken it with him, wouldn't he?"

Draco shook his head, "Not necessarily. He probably WOULD have removed it from the house, but afterwards, I would think he would have figured it the perfect place to hide it. Don't you think? I mean, it IS the place that he, well, you know...well I don't know what to call it. Lost his power, maybe. Lord Voldemort, as we both probably know, loves irony."

Harry nodded.

An awkward silence started to fall over them and Draco finally said, "Well, I WOULD like to go back there, and check. But tomorrow, probably. Where are you staying?"

Harry looked up, He hadn't even THOUGHT about an inn.

Draco read Harry's expression and rolled his eyes, "Honestly, Potter. Sometimes your ignorance amazes even me,"

"Well, I was thinking I wouldn't be going back, just the one visit, and then I was going to..." He trailed off. Should he tell Draco all of this? He had convinced Harry to trust him, but that didn't change the fact that Draco loved to taunt Harry at every moment possible.

Draco was pulling on his jacket and looking expectantly at Harry, "Going to what?"

Harry looked at his hands as he said, "Visit my parents grave,"

Draco remained silent. Harry risked a glance up at him. He was looking at Harry sadly, "We can do that tomorrow if you want. I mean, YOU can...I don't know if me going would be appropriate,"

Harry inwardly sighed in relief at Draco's understanding, "Of course it would be appropriate...if you wanted to,"

Draco just nodded. The got up in silence and paid their bill.

As the two exited the small shop, both could easily agree it had been the weirdest day of their lives.

--

I'm sorry that was so terrible...but please, still review..


	5. Heated Water

Cliches, cliches! don't they ever go away? no, they don't. and since i was incredibly blocked in the creativity department, i had to make this one slightly badly cliched at the end, using the usual cliffhanger to keep you guys hooked. I'm prepared to be murderd via flamers.

but, to get you guys a wee bit excited: Draco and Harry: sharing a bed!

as usual, not nearly as exciting as it sounds...

---

"I still don't understand how there can be only one inn in this godforsaken place," Draco growled.

"You think I'm enjoying this? Let's just try to get through the night, and hopefully we can forget this whole scenario by morning."

"Oh please, Potter. Like anyone could forget anything as disgusting as this."

"You were the one who didn't want to sleep outside!"

"That didn't mean I wanted to share a twin bed with you in a musty old inn that only charges $25 a night!"

Inside, Harry agreed with him, the argument was mostly for his sanity's sake. What other choice did he have? There was only one inn in this "god forsaken" place, and as it just might happen, that there was some sort of wedding, which had taken up all the rooms but one single.

The droopy bed smelled of feet and some of the springs were broken, which dug into his back rather viciously. It didn't help matters that Draco was lying in the middle of the bed and Harry was on the verge of falling off completely.

"I can't believe I have to TOUCH you," Draco continued on whining like this for the rest of the night, and Harry fell asleep while Draco was listing off terrible scenarios, in which this one topped the list. Harry fell asleep to "Giving a blow job to a rhino..." That sentence alone gave him rather unpleasant dreams.

Harry awoke the next morning lying flat on the floor, a puddle of his drool on the ugly orange rag carpet. He sat up and rubbed his eyes. There was Draco, laying spread eagle across the bed, his mouth wide open and snoring obnoxiously.

Harry stood up completely, and was blown away by a head rush and aching muscles. He stumbled into the dirty bathroom and before stepping into the shower, he looked at himself in the cracked mirror. The side of his face that had been resting on the floor was wrinkled from the rug, and there was a crusty trail of spit on his cheek. He was a terrible sight.

When the warm water touched his skin, all he could think was that the inn had one thing good about it.

He was done early, but in revenge to Draco's rule over the bed, he stayed in and used all the hot water.

When he got out, Draco was awake and frowning at him, "YOU took all the blankets, you twit." Harry looked at where he had slept. He had only taken the sheets, while Draco had the comforter.

"Whatever. Get dressed. I'm hungry" Harry yawned and fell into the bed as Draco left it.

Minutes later he heard a high shriek "POTTER!"

Harry buried his face into the pillows to keep from laughing. He then buried his face deeper in to the pillow, breathing in the enticing sent emitting from it. Seconds later he drew away in horror, realizing he had been inhaling the scent of DRACO.

Something hit him smack in the back of the head, and he whirled around angrily, seeing Draco, in naught but a towel, yelling "You used up all the hot water you filthy piece of scum!" The article he had chosen to throw was a bar of soap.

Harry leaned back on the bed smiling, "You COULD just use magic."

He was thinking Draco would grudgingly turn around and take his advice. Instead, Draco just stood there, staring at him with an unreadable expression on his face.

Harry sat up, "What?"

"No, I can't just use magic," Draco said, "The mark sends a message to Voldemort every time I use magic. If I use magic, then," Harry now saw the ugly tattoo on Draco's arm.

"He'll find you," Suddenly Harry felt guilty. How could he be so inconsiderate? He hadn't even needed all the hot water. "I'll do it then...sorry, I didn't-"

Draco waved him off, "Doesn't matter," Harry had a feeling that it did matter, but Draco apparently didn't want to talk about it, so Harry wouldn't pressure him. Harry stepped into the bathroom and pointed his wand at the shower head, "_fervens fons_"

Suddenly hot, steamy water shot out, heating the small room. Draco turned around, eyes lowered, "Thank you, Harry,"

Harry just stood there, staring at Draco, who looked suddenly vulnerable. Harry remembered last year when Moaning Myrtle had said Draco had cried openly in front of her. _Maybe he's really not all that headstrong as he comes off as,_ Harry mused.

"Harry?"

Harry , who still deep in thought, said, "Hm?"

"Er, do you mind?"

Harry awoke from his deep musings and realized he was still in the bathroom with Draco, and that Draco was obviously waiting for him to leave so he could have some privacy, "OH! Sorry! I'll just be...out...bathroom...going...right. Bye. For now, I mean, not for..." Harry just stopped talking and exited the bathroom, feeling like the silly idiot that he obviously was.

He tried to watch the telly, but all he got was static, then he read the towns newspaper, but it was only one sheet about a farmer who had lost his 12 chickens the previous night, and his neighbor who had lost his 12 goats the night before that.

"Who gives a damn about chickens and goats?" Harry thought out loud.

"For as well as you did in potions last year, Harry, I would assume that you would know that both are very important for potions ingredients," Draco had swept out of the bathroom, a trail of steam swirling about him. He stepped over to Harry and read over his shoulder, "As 12 is a magical number," He whispered. "Something must be going on...something..."

They were both dead silent, reading the same 3 paragraph article about three times.

"There's a potion," Draco began, "That's for eternal life, Horcruxes or no, That uses blood from 12 different chickens, and 12 bezoars from 12 different goats, and..." Draco gasped and looked at Harry, realization dawning on his face.

"And WHAT, Draco?"

Draco shook his head and looked away, "And the death of your greatest enemy,"

--

well crap.

repeating what i said earlier: I've used one of those totally clichéd chapters. darn. Well. I can say, it sounds a hell of a lot more exciting that it is. But that might ruin it for you. So if you prefer to just be excited, then ignore what I just said. No more clichéd chapters from me. Hopefully…sometimes a lack of inspiration hits and it's all I can think of…


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